Sir Arthur Pearson

Cyril Arthur Pearson was born in Somerset, England, and educated
at Hampshire’s prestigious Winchester College. He began his career
as a journalist and formed his own publishing business in 1890, at
the age of 24. Over the years he established a small but respectable
newspaper empire, beginning with his own periodical, Pearson’s
Weekly, and eventually including The Evening Standard and the Daily
Express. Later in life, Pearson became a close friend of Lord Robert
Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts movement, and published its
magazine, The Scout.

He remained active as a writer and published books on such diverse
subjects as tourism, fortune-telling and dreams under the pseudonym
of “Dr. P.R.S. Foli.”

Pearson was also known for his philanthropic activities, and in 1892
he founded the Fresh Air Fund (still operating today under the name
Pearson’s Holiday Fund), a charitable organization which enabled
children from disadvantaged backgrounds to take part in outdoor
recreational activities.

In 1903 he organized Britain’s Tariff Reform Movement, and served as
its first chairman.

In 1908, however, he began to lose his sight due to glaucoma, and by
1913 he was completely blind. Unable to continue at the helm of his
newspaper interests, he instead turned his attention once again to
philanthropic concerns, and became the president of the National
Institution for the Blind (later the Royal National Institute for
the Blind, or RNIB).

Two years later, in 1915, he founded St. Dunstan’s Home for soldiers
who had been blinded in the First World War. Rather than being
simply a charitable organization, however, it offered vocational
training to enable the soldiers to regain their independence and
return to the workforce.

Canadian soldiers who had lost their vision while serving overseas
were sent to St. Dunstan’s for rehabilitation before returning to
Canada, and two of CNIB’s seven eventual founders,
Edwin Baker and Alexander Viets, became good friends with Pearson during
their time there. As a result, Pearson had a hand in founding CNIB,
and served as its first honorary president.

Sir Arthur Pearson died in 1921, at the age of 55, after falling in
his bath.